Tune King & Kong Hubs

When it came to building my Enve rims, I wanted to use some high-quality lightweight hubs. While the obvious choice would be from DT Swiss or maybe American Classic, I was curious to try something a little different. German brand Tune specialises in really light gear and their hubs are offered in a broad range of spoke hole drillings (I wanted to run 28 spokes and some MTB hubs are only offered in 32-hole). Despite their Germany manufacture, they sell for $219 and $439 (front/rear)—not cheap but definitely more affordable than DT Swiss. A selection of axle kits will convert them to fit most thru-axle standards and Tune also offer retrofit-able freehubs to suit SRAM’s new 11-speed XX-1 cassettes.

On the scales the front 15QR disc hub was 113g and the 142x12 rear came in at just 210g. That’s almost 100g lighter than a pair of DT 240s and around 30g lighter than American Classic. Want lighter again? Tune also makes their Prince and Princess hubs which drop a further 30g a pair from the King and Kong combination. The three-pawl rear hub has 27-point (13-degree) engagement—while this isn’t super-fast, all three pawls lock in simultaneously which ensures the engagement is solid and secure.

Now, after 10 months of use, the front hub remains particularly smooth and hasn’t required any servicing. As a more complex creature, the rear has required a little bit of attention. Like many hubs, the pawls enjoy the occasional clean and lube. They ran dry early on in the review period, perhaps due to a lack of lube from the factory, and this caused a faint ‘ticking’ noise under moderate pedalling load. Thankfully the freehub is very easy to service; simply pull on the cassette and the whole body will come off in your hand—just make sure you don’t lose any springs or pawls! Wipe everything down, apply a little light oil and away you go again; it’ll take about 15 minutes. The hubs have been silent ever since but I’d suggest a bit of intermittent loving to keep your investment running clean.

While the front bearings have been perfect, the harder-working rear wheel bearings now have a tiny bit of roughness. Not enough to warrant replacement but they are no longer silky smooth. Like most modern hubs, they spin on press-fit sealed cartridge bearings, and they can be replaced as required.

As featherweight hubs that aren’t insanely expensive, the Tune King and Kong are an attractive alternative to the better-known brands. They are simple, adaptable, serviceable and also come in a range of fancy anodised colours—a worthy contender if you plan on building your own lightweight wheels.

EightyOneSpices (08) 8388 3581 / www.eightyonespices.com.au